Grupo Vittia announces acquisition of Vitória Fertilizantes

Grupo Vittia, a Brazilian manufacturer of special fertilizers, inoculants and biological pesticides with 50 years of experience in the business, has just acquired Vitória Fertilizantes, a mining company involved in the making of organic mineral fertilizers based on organic residues. 

With this acquisition, the company doubles its participation in the supply of these inputs, consolidating itself as a reference point in technology. The acquisition is part of the group's growth strategy, which has achieved a 70% growth in revenues in the last four years.

The Vittia Group also takes an important leap forward in the development of new organic mineral fertilizers. "Vitória has more than a decade of deep knowledge in the production of organomineral fertilizers and plant nutrition, and now combines its expertise with the Vittia Group's experience to bring to the Brazilian producer the most modern products in this segment," said agronomist José Roberto Pereira de Castro, Marketing Director of Grupo Vittia. 

"With that, we continue our strategy of strengthening the group based on the acquisitions that bring more and more innovation, technology and sustainability to the Brazilian agribusiness," the managing director affirmed.

The acquisition brings a new process into the development of organic mineral fertilizers for the group. Vitória Fertilizantes manages to transform, through biological processes, residues from plant and animal production (Barn Compound) into organic materials of agronomic quality, which are enriched with nutrients to provide the rural producer with a highly efficient fertilizer. 

The manufacturing operations of Vitória Fertilizantes, located in the municipality of Patos 0.de Minas (MG), has a modern structure of 70,000 m². The unit has a production capacity of more than 10,000 tons of fertilizers/month and is prepared to more than double current production with the new businesses.

Another great differential is that the formulations produced in this unit are made available in the form of pellets, taking into account the technologies of application of fertilizers in most crops and rural producers with operational efficiency.

In addition to the factory, a modern laboratory for soil and leaf tissue analysis is also being acquired. With this, it will be possible to detect exactly what the crop needs and recommend the best fertilizer formula and dose to achieve greater productivity.

Vitória Fertilizantes also brings to the Vittia Group all the intellectual and people assets led by its current director Alisson Marques Fernandes along with nearly 300 new customers that will become part of the group's portfolio.

"The arrival of Vitória Fertilizantes together with its entire team and sustainable technology is part of the growth strategy of the Vittia Group of adopting the policies of best environmental, social and governance practices - ESG. With this, we highlight the importance of promoting inputs that stimulate the circular economy, within our objectives," de Castro added.

The production of bio-inputs is the key to the agribusiness of the future. Such is its importance that the Federal Government contemplated in the new Plan Safra 2020-2021, the promotion of bio-inputs, focusing on plant nutrition and pest and disease control. 

"Given the representativeness of Brazilian agribusiness, the national production of biotechnology and organomineral fertilizers optimizes production costs and expands the offer to farmers, the biggest beneficiaries of advances in the sector, in addition to contributing to the environment by using renewable sources for their manufacture," de Castro emphasized.

Expansion of the portfolio of highly efficient organic mineral fertilizers

The acquisition has made it possible for the Vittia Group to expand its product offerings in the market. The greater the adoption of technology by the producer, the more the stability in the production system and, consequently, increased productivity in the field. The integration of portfolios will allow much more complete delivery of technologies.

"With this technology, nutrients for plants and balanced organic matter of quality are available, which act on soil fertility in the chemical, physical and biological pillars. This application is compared to conventional fertilizers in the market that work only on the chemical pillar of fertility," Fernandes explained.

In addition to using organic material from the production system itself, this technology increases the use of the main sources of nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium), contributing to the rational use of these sources that depend on non-renewable resources for their production.

"In the past few years, we have been working on acquisitions that strengthen our business. In 2019, these acquisitions contributed to more than 20% of our revenues. With this partnership, in addition to doubling the participation in the segment, we have incorporated the technology of production of organomineral fertilizers utilizing agricultural residues and the manufacture of pelleted products. Thus, we have increased the spectrum of crops and farmers who will benefit from these solutions," de Castro said.

A strong feature about Vitória Fertilizantes is the development of technologies based on scientific evidence, on the lines of organomineral fertilizers with the participation of researchers from important institutions such as the Federal University of Uberlândia (UFU).

The original Portuguese version of this report is from GRUPO CULTIVAR.